THE AUDIT
An operational audit for small businesses.
An operational audit looks at how work actually moves through your business: where it waits, where it gets redone and where it costs more than it should. Ours is done online, costs $495 and ends with a written report signed by a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
What an operational audit is
A financial audit checks your books. An operational audit checks the work behind them: the steps your team takes to win a job, deliver it and get paid, how long each step takes and what goes wrong along the way. The aim is a short list of changes that free up time, cut rework and bring cash in sooner, ranked so you know what to do first.
It isn't a compliance or safety inspection, and it isn't legal, tax or accounting advice. It's a practical review of how your business runs, by someone trained to find waste in a process.
What the audit looks at
Your goals
We start from what you want fixed: your single most important goal, your biggest frustrations, how urgent they are and what success would look like 90 days from now. The recommendations are ranked against those goals.
Your main workflow, step by step
You walk us through up to six steps of the workflow that matters most, with how long each one takes and how long work waits before it starts. Waiting is often where the delay hides, and it rarely shows up on a timesheet.
Where things slow down or break
The bottlenecks in that workflow, the most time-consuming recurring task in your week, and how many hours your team loses to inefficiency.
Rework
What gets redone or fixed most often, how much of your work needs redoing and what a typical redo costs you.
Your tools
The software you run on, from job management, CRM and communication to invoicing, scheduling, file storage and e-commerce: what frustrates your team about it, and which tools overlap or do the same job.
Your numbers and cash flow
The numbers you already track, your payment terms, how late invoices usually get paid and how far over schedule jobs run. Slow payment and overruns cost money just as wasted hours do.
The eight kinds of waste
Lean, the improvement method that grew out of manufacturing, sorts waste into eight kinds. The intake asks which ones you see most, in plain words:
- Waiting: work stuck on approvals, clients, information or each other.
- Defects: mistakes that need fixing, redoing or apologizing for.
- Motion: hunting for files, jumping between apps, extra clicks.
- Transportation: handoffs that move work or information between people, places or systems.
- Overprocessing: more steps, checks or detail than the customer values.
- Overproduction: doing work early, or doing more than was asked for.
- Inventory: backlogs, half-finished work, unread requests or unused stock.
- Unused talent: skilled people stuck on work below their level.
Most businesses have several of these at once. The report points to the ones costing you most and what to change first.
What you get
- A written report on where your workflow loses time, money and quality, with prioritized recommendations.
- A Black Belt's sign-off. Our software drafts the report from your intake. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt checks it, corrects it and signs it before you see it.
- A live call to go through your top priorities. We email you to book it once your report is ready.
- Corrections at no charge. If something in the report is wrong because we misread your answers, we fix it.
The report is yours to use in your business and to share with your staff and advisers.
Who it's for
Small and medium businesses that want an outside view of how they run, without paying a consultant by the day or hiring a full-time operations lead. The intake works for:
- Project-based, retainer and hourly service businesses
- Retail and e-commerce
- Manufacturing
- Subscription and software businesses
If we review your intake and decide the audit isn't a good fit for your business, we'll tell you and refund you in full.
How long it takes
- About 30 minutes for you to fill in the online intake. Rough numbers and best guesses are fine.
- Your signed report by email within 5 business days of your completed intake. If we need to check any answers with you, the 5 days start once we have what we need.
- A live call, booked once your report is ready.
Price
$495 (US dollars): one fixed price for the whole audit, paid once and in advance through Stripe. Any sales tax is shown at checkout before you pay. Follow-up improvement work is optional and quoted separately, and buying an audit doesn't commit you to anything else.
Full refund any time before you submit your intake. Our refund policy covers the rest.
Why Lean Six Sigma
Lean is about removing waste so work flows with fewer delays. Six Sigma is about cutting errors and variation so work comes out right the first time. Together they're one of the most widely used approaches to process improvement. A Black Belt is trained to lead improvement projects with both: the kind of expertise larger companies keep on staff, applied to a business your size for a fixed price.
Find out where your business loses time.
Book online and start your intake the same day.
Book your auditQuestions first? Read the FAQ or email info@belmaix.com.